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<h2>DESCRIPTION</h2>

<p>
<b>wxGUI Cartographic Composer</b> also called <em>wx.psmap</em> is
a <em><a href="wxGUI.html">wxGUI</a></em> extension which allows the
user to create interactively hardcopy map outputs. This tool
generates <em><a href="ps.map.html">ps.map</a></em> configuration file
and then runs <em><a href="ps.map.html">ps.map</a></em> to create
PostScript output. There are two modes - <em>Draft mode</em> for map
composing and <em>Preview mode</em>
(requires <a href="http://www.pythonware.com/products/pil/">Python
Imaging Library</a>) to see how the result will look like. In draft
mode map features (like legend or scalebar) are represented by a
colored rectangle with a label.

<p>
Possible output files:
<ul>
  <li> <em><a href="ps.map.html">ps.map</a></em> instructions file
  <li> PostScript/EPS file
  <li> PDF (using ps2pdf)
</ul>

<center>
<br>
<img src="psmap_frame.jpg" border="1" alt="wxGUI Cartographic Composer">
<br><br>
</center>

<p>
Cartographic Composer enables to load in saved instructions file.
Loading instruction files created by Cartographic Composer is more robust,
as opposed to loading files created manually.

<p>
Currently supported <em><a href="ps.map.html">ps.map</a></em> instructions:

<ul>
  <li> paper
  <li> maploc
  <li> scale
  <li> border
  <li> raster
  <li> colortable
  <li> vpoints
  <li> vlines
  <li> vareas
  <li> vlegend
  <li> text
  <li> scalebar
  <li> mapinfo
  <li> point
  <li> line
  <li> rectangle
  <li> labels
</ul>


<h3>CARTOGRAPHIC COMPOSER TOOLBAR</h3>
<dl>
  <dt><img src="icons/script-save.png" alt="icon">&nbsp;
    <em>Generate instructions file</em></dt>
  <dd>Generates and saves text file with mapping instructions.</dd>
  
  <dt><img src="icons/script-load.png" alt="icon">&nbsp;
    <em>Load instructions file</em></dt>
  <dd>Load text file with mapping instructions.</dd>
  
  <dt><img src="icons/page-settings.png" alt="icon">&nbsp;
    <em>Page setup</em></dt>
  <dd>Specify paper size, margins and orientation.</dd>
  
  <dt><img src="icons/pointer.png" alt="icon">&nbsp;
    <em>Pointer</em></dt>
  <dd>Select object on the paper by clicking, drag the cursor while pressing the left mouse button to move it or resize object (currently only map frame) by clicking on a small black box in its bottom right corner. Double click to show object properties dialog</dd>
    
  <dt><img src="icons/pan.png" alt="icon">&nbsp;
    <em>Pan</em></dt>
  <dd>Drag the pan cursor while pressing the left mouse button to move your view. </dd>


  <dt><img src="icons/zoom-in.png" alt="icon">&nbsp;
    <em>Zoom in</em></dt>
  <dd>Interactive zooming with the mouse in both draft and preview mode. Drawing a box or just a left click with the mouse and zoom-in cursor causes the display to zoom in so that the area defined by the box fills the display.</dd>


  <dt><img src="icons/zoom-out.png" alt="icon">&nbsp;
    <em>Zoom out</em></dt>
  <dd>Interactive zooming with the mouse in both draft and preview mode. Drawing a box or just a left click with the mouse and zoom-out cursor causes the display to zoom out so that the area displayed shrinks to fill the area defined by the box.</dd>
  
  <dt><img src="icons/zoom-extent.png" alt="icon">&nbsp;
    <em>Zoom to page</em></dt>
  <dd>Zoom to display the entire page </dd>
  
  
  <dt><img src="icons/layer-add.png" alt="icon">&nbsp;
    <em>Map frame</em></dt>
  <dd>Click and drag to place map frame. If map frame is already drawn, open a dialog to set its properties. </dd>
  
  <dt><img src="icons/layer-raster-add.png" alt="icon">&nbsp;
    <em>Raster map</em></dt>
  <dd>Shows a dialog to add or change the raster map.</dd>
  
  <dt><img src="icons/layer-vector-add.png" alt="icon">&nbsp;
    <em>Vector map</em></dt>
  <dd>Shows a dialog to add or change current vector maps and their properties:
    <dl>
      <dt><em>Data selection</em></dt>
        <dd>Select data to draw:
        
        <dl>
          <dt><em>Feature type</em></dt>
            <dd> Select which data type to draw. In case of point data, points or centroids
            can be drawn, in case of line data, lines or boundaries. </dd>
          <dt><em>Layer selection</em></dt>
            <dd>Select layer and limit data by a SQL query or chose only certain categories.</dd>
          <dt><em>Mask</em></dt>
            <dd>Whether to use mask or not.</dd>
        </dl> 
        </dd>
      
      <dt><em>Colors</em></dt>
        <dd>Color settings:
                
        <dl>
          <dt><em>Outline</em></dt>
            <dd> Select outline color and width in points. In case of lines, outline means highlighting.</dd>
          <dt><em>Fill</em></dt>
            <dd>Select fill color, one color for all vector elements or color from rgb column.</dd>
        </dl> 
      </dd>
      <dt><em>Size and style</em></dt>
        <dd>
        Sets size, style, symbols, pattern; depends on data type:
        
        <dl>
          <dt><em>Symbology</em></dt>
            <dd> Available for point data. Choose symbol or EPS file to draw points with.</dd>
          <dt><em>Line style</em></dt>
            <dd>Available for line data. Select line style (solid, dashed, ...) and the look of the ends of the line (butt, round, ...)</dd>
          <dt><em>Pattern</em></dt>
          <dd> Available for areas. Choose pattern file and set the width of the pattern.</dd>
          <dt><em>Size</em></dt>
          <dd> Available for point data. Choose size (number of times larger than the size in the icon file) as a single value or take the size from a map table column.</dd>
          <dt><em>Rotation</em></dt>
          <dd> Available for point data. Rotate symbols counterclockwise with the given value or with the value from a map table column</dd>
          <dt><em>Width</em></dt>
          <dd> Available for line data. Set line width in points or take the value from a map table column.</dd>
        </dl> 
      </dd>
  
  
    </dl>
    </dd>
  
   <dt><img src="icons/layer-more.png" alt="icon">&nbsp;
    <em>Add overlays</em></dt>
   <dd>Add overlays: vector labels, grid (not yet implemented)
    <dl>
      <dt><img src="icons/layer-label-add.png" alt="icon">&nbsp;
        <em>Add labels</em></dt>
      <dd>Add vector labels created beforehand by v.label module.</dd>
    </dl>
   </dd>

   <dt><img src="icons/overlay-add.png" alt="icon">&nbsp;
    <em>Add map elements</em></dt>
   <dd>Add map elements: legend, scalebar, map info, text 
    <dl>
      <dt><img src="icons/legend-add.png" alt="icon">&nbsp;
        <em>Add legend</em></dt>
      <dd>Add raster or vector legend or edit their properties.</dd>
      <dt><img src="icons/map-info.png" alt="icon">&nbsp;
        <em>Add map info</em></dt>
      <dd>Add information about region, grid and scale or edit map info properties.</dd>
      <dt><img src="icons/scalebar-add.png" alt="icon">&nbsp;
        <em>Add scalebar</em></dt>
      <dd>Add scalebar or edit its properties.</dd>
      <dt><img src="icons/text-add.png" alt="icon">&nbsp;
        <em>Add text</em></dt>
      <dd>Add text label.</dd>    
    </dl>
    </dd>
  <dt><img src="icons/layer-remove.png" alt="icon">&nbsp;
    <em>Remove selected element</em></dt>
  <dd>Select an object and remove it. Pressing Delete key does the same. </dd>
  
  <dt><img src="icons/execute.png" alt="icon">&nbsp;
    <em>Show preview</em></dt>
  <dd> Generates output and switches to Preview mode to see the result. Be patient, it can take a while.</dd>
  

  <dt><img src="icons/ps-export.png" alt="icon">&nbsp;
    <em>Generate hardcopy map output in PS</em></dt>
  <dd> Generates hardcopy map output in PostScript/EPS file.</dd>
   <dt><img src="icons/pdf-export.png" alt="icon">&nbsp;
    <em>Generate hardcopy map output in PDF</em></dt>
  <dd> Generates hardcopy map output in PDF using ps2pdf.</dd>
  
</dl>


<h2>SEE ALSO</h2>

<em>
  <a href="wxGUI.html">wxGUI</a><br>
  <a href="wxGUI.components.html">wxGUI components</a>
</em>

<p>
See also <a href="https://grasswiki.osgeo.org/wiki/WxGUI_Cartographic_Composer">wiki</a> page.

<h2>AUTHOR</h2>

Anna Kratochvilova, Czech Technical University in Prague, Czech
Republic (bachelor's final project 2011, mentor: Martin Landa)

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